Interview with Maya Drexler (Berkeley High School)

- the interviewer -

1) Describe an average day at your school (give us a feel of a walk through the halls)

2) How much of a resource is your school in your life’s development? Do you think it actively contributes to your greater learning in life? Do you feel that your classes cater to your immediate and future needs?

3) How do you think your curriculum could be better formatted to teach you life skills?

4) Is there respect at your school between students? Students and teachers? Teachers and parents? Parents and students? How does this affect your learning environment?

5) If you could change one thing about you school, what would it be?


- the interviewee -

1) An average day at my school is very hectic/exciting. It is a very large school (over 3000 students) so there is never a dull moment. A walk through the halls is similar to a walk in a busy nyc street. It can be ridiculously frustrating and annoying because people are rude and push and are loud. But at the same time it is just another part of going to BHS and you learn to live with it. Walking through the halls you also notice how extremely diverse my school is and that is something I love and appreciate everyday. But any average day at BHS can have numerous crazy events. For example: fire alarms get pulled reguarly, the other week there were about three fights, there was a race war, a transvestite ran onto campus with scissors... just to give you a feel of how ridiculous it can be. But I love it and it keeps things interesting. There is no "average day" at berkeley high. But classes remain on schedule and everything gets done anyways.

2) I have definitely gotten a mixed education at berkeley high. I have had some amazing classes that I learned greatly from and really enjoyed and had teachers that were incredible. However I have also had classes that were wastes of my time and the teachers were jokes. But, I feel as though I have gotten the best overall education I could have ever gotten. I say this because going to BHS teaches you so much more than just your general education. I have been taught so many life skills that are irreplaceable and so valuable and that I know I can only get from going to berkeley high. So in that way I would say my school is a great resource in my life's development. I think my school contributes to my greater learning in life because it has taught me to be self sufficient, active for myself and my community, to seek help and attention when I need it and to go out and ask for things when they aren't immediately handed to you. My school is not the type of school that holds your hand and helps you through ever step of the way, which at first was hard for me but then I found it to be a blessing because I learned how to go and ask for what I needed and that is something I will definitely need in my future. Some of my classes have catered to my immediate and future needs. My English classes for the past 2 years have been excellent and I am a far better writer which has helped me immediately and will help in my future. But I feel like in the long term, what I learned from dealing with the administration and all the bureaucracy at BHS will be more helpful in my future.

3) I think my last two answers kind of answer this question because like I was saying, just going to berkeley high everyday teaches you plenty of life skills so it is kind of built into going there.

4) This is a tricky question because nothing is so cut and dry at my school, given that it is so large. I cannot say that there is a general respect between students, students and teachers, teachers and parents, parents and students because each case is unique. I am respected for the most part by students, teachers and parents, but have had numerous instances where I was not. But the school is just too big to make generalizations like that. I would say we have some great teachers that are very dedicated and treat their students with great amount of respect. However, we have teachers that are rude, direspectful and unfortunately on tenure so we can't get rid of them! But they just add to the funny BHS legends and stories so we make some good out of it. And the same goes for students. BHS is like a big city so in every city there are going to be some disrepectful people. Therefore I cannot confidently say that there is a respect among students but I will say there is a basic understanding between all BHS students. You cannot understand what it is like to go there until you experience it yourself, so we all kind of have this relationship where we feel connected because we have all shared the experience of BHS.

5) I would change a lot about my school but one important thing to me would be to make it more integrated. It is extremely diverse, but it is not integrated enough. You can walk into a class that is all white, all black, all hispanic and that is not right to me. We were the first school in america to integrate and yet we still have such voluntary segregation it is just absurd to me. I wish there was a way to fill the achievement gap and make all the classes integrated so we can actually have the diversity we talk about instead of just talking about it and so that everyone is given equal opportunities.